Tarim River
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The Tarim River ( zh, p=Tǎlǐmù Hé, c=塔里木河; ug, تارىم دەرياسى, Tarim deryasi), known in Sanskrit as the Śītā, is an
endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
in
Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It is the principal river of the
Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
, a
desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
region of
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
between the
Tian Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
and
Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...
. The river historically terminated at
Lop Nur Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts ...
, but today reaches no further than Taitema Lake before drying out. It is the longest inland river in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The Tarim River originates from the Karakoram Mountains and flows into Lop Nur along the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert. It has a total length of 2,327 kilometers and a drainage area of 1.02 million square kilometers. Its main tributaries include the
Hotan River The Hotan River (also known as the Khotan River or the Ho-t'ien River) is formed by the union of the White Jade (Yurungkash) and Karakash (Black Jade) Rivers, which flow north from the Kunlun Mountains into the Taklamakan Desert in northern C ...
, the Aksu River, and the
Kashgar River The Kashgar (or ''Kaxgar'', in its upper course ''Kyzylsuu'', ug, قەشقەر دەرياسى, Qeshqer deryasi; ) is a river in the Xinjiang province of the People's Republic of China. It has its sources in the eastern parts of the Pamir Mount ...
. The course of the Tarim River swings from north to south in history, and its migration is uncertain. The last major river change occurred in 1921, when the main stream was diverted to the east and flowed into Lop Nur through the Kongque River. In 1952, a dam was built near
Yuli County Yuli County as the official Romanized name, also transliterated from Mongolian as Lopnur County ( Lop Nur), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. It ...
, separated from the Kongque River, and the river water returned to Taitma Lake and Lop Nur through the old road of Tieganlik.


Etymology

The Greek geographer
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
in the 2nd century AD called the Tarim River the Oichardes River in his book "Geography". "
Shui Jing Zhu The ''Commentary on the Water Classic'' (), or ''Commentaries on the Water Classic'', commonly known as ''Shui Jing Zhu'', is a work on the Chinese geography in ancient times, describing the traditional understanding of its waterways and ancient ...
" is called the South River. In the Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Tarim River was called Ji-style water, Ji-shu water and Ji-shou water. The Qing Dynasty's "Map of the Western Regions" called it "Erse Gol", which means "flowing water" in Mongolian. According to the "Draft of Qing History", the name of the river Tarim means "horse without reins", which describes the river's frequent diversion. In the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty (1819), Xu Song wrote in "The Record of the Waterways of the Western Regions": "The Hui language (Uyghur language) refers to the 'cultivable land' called Tarim, and it is said that the people living in the riverside are farming for their business."


Geography and climate

The total length of the Yarkand-Tarim river system is , although, as the Tarim frequently changes its channel, the length tends to vary over the years. It is shallow, unsuitable for navigation, and because of its heavy silt load, forms a
braided stream A braided river, or braided channel, consists of a network of river channels separated by small, often temporary, islands called braid bars or, in English usage, ''aits'' or ''eyots''. Braided streams tend to occur in rivers with high sediment lo ...
near its terminus. The area of the Tarim River Basin is about . A considerable part of the Tarim's course is unformed, following no clearly defined riverbed. The water volume of the lower course of the river diminishes as a result of extensive evaporation and water-diversion schemes."Tarim", in The Tarim River Basin belongs to the inland river basin, which originates from the inland rivers in the mountains around the Tarim Basin and flows into the basin, forming a centripetal water system. The river system of the Tarim River Basin is composed of 144 rivers originating from the Tianshan Mountains, the Pamir Plateau, the Karakoram Mountains, the Kunlun Mountains and the Altun Mountains around the Tarim Basin. River system, Weigan river system, Aksu river system, Kashgar river system, Yarkand river system, Hotan river system, Keriya river system, Cheerchen river system. The water source of the Tarim River completely comes from the tributaries originating from the surrounding mountainous areas, and the sediment content is very high. The average annual water volume of the Tarim River at the confluence of the three major sources is 4.299 billion cubic meters, of which the Aksu River is 3.358 billion cubic meters, the Yeerqiang River is 23 million cubic meters, and the Hotan River 918 million cubic meters. In the downstream, 212 million cubic meters are introduced from the Kongque River, and the total water volume of the main stream is 4.511 billion cubic meters. At the same time, the amount of water varies greatly due to seasonal differences. In summer, snow and glaciers melt, which increases the amount of water and decreases in winter. The Tarim River is a naturally dissipative river in history, with an average annual water consumption of 1.669 billion cubic meters in the upper reaches, 2.296 billion cubic meters in the middle reaches, and only 633 million cubic meters of water entering the downstream. The distribution of glacier runoff is uneven throughout the year. The water inflow from June to September accounts for 70%-80% of the annual runoff, and most of them are floods; the irrigation season from March to May only accounts for about 10% of the annual runoff. is likely to cause spring drought. Precipitation in the
Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
is extremely scant, and in some years it is nonexistent. In the Taklamakan Desert and in the Lop Nur basin, the average annual total of precipitation is about . In the foothills and in several other areas of the river's basin, the precipitation amounts to from a year. In the Tian Shan it is much wetter, precipitation often exceeding . Maximum temperatures in the Tarim Basin are about 40 °C (104 °F). The Tarim River freezes over every year from December through March.


Course

The Tarim River and most of its tributaries originate in the
Karakorum Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the ...
and
Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...
. The name Tarim is applied to the river formed by the union of the Aksu River, flowing from the north, and
Yarkand River The Yarkand River (or Yarkent River, Yeh-erh-ch'iang Ho) is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It originates in the Siachen Muztagh in a part of the Karakoram range and flows into the Tarim River or Neinejoung R ...
, coming from the southwest, near the Aral City in western Xinjiang.Hill (2009), p. 13. A third river, the
Khotan River The Hotan River (also known as the Khotan River or the Ho-t'ien River) is formed by the union of the White Jade (Yurungkash) and Karakash (Black Jade) Rivers, which flow north from the Kunlun Mountains into the Taklamakan Desert in northern Chi ...
, comes to the same junction area from the south but it is usually dry at this location, having crossed the
Taklamakan Desert The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...
to get here. Another river of western Xinjiang is the
Kashgar River The Kashgar (or ''Kaxgar'', in its upper course ''Kyzylsuu'', ug, قەشقەر دەرياسى, Qeshqer deryasi; ) is a river in the Xinjiang province of the People's Republic of China. It has its sources in the eastern parts of the Pamir Mount ...
, which flows into the Yarkand River during the rainy season about upstream from the Yarkand's confluence with the Aksu. The main source is the Yarkand River, which originates from the southeastern foot of the Telim Kanli Peak in the Karakoram Mountains. The source is divided into four branches, namely the Yeerqiang River, the Aksu River, the Kashgar River, and the Hotan River. The four rivers converge near Xiaojia in Awati County. In the "Heyuan Jilue" of the Qing Dynasty, it is recorded as "the meeting place is connected by four rivers. Shaped like a bullpen." Xiao Jacket is hereinafter referred to as the Tarim River. According to the calculation of the main source Yeerqiang River, the total length is 2327 kilometers. The main stream winds from west to east along the northern edge of the Tarim Basin at 41 degrees north latitude, and turns eastward to the southeast at 87 degrees east longitude, passing through the eastern part of the Taklimakan Desert, and finally injecting into Lop Nur, with a drainage area of 1.02 million. square kilometer. The main stream of the Tarim River is divided into upper, middle and lower sections: the upper section above Yangji Baza is the upper section, where the river bed is not bifurcated, the side erosion is strong, the meandering flow is developed, and the river bed is unstable; the middle section from Yangji Baza to Qunke, There are many forks, lakes and swamps here. During the flood period, the water flow overflows and disperses, and the main flow is often diverted; the lower section below Qunke, the river channel is restored and unified. The Daxihaizi Reservoir was built between Tieganlik, so only a small amount of river water could flow to Yingsu, and only during the flood period did water leak into Taitma Lake. The Tarim flows in an eastward direction along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. It receives another tributary, the
Muzat River The Muzart River () or Muzat River (; ug, مۇزات دەرياسى, translit=Muzat Deryasi) is a river in Aksu Prefecture of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, a left tributary of the Tarim River. An early 20th-centur ...
from the north; however, out of these four rivers (Aksu, Yarkand, Khotan, and Muzart), only the Aksu flows into the Tarim year-round It is the Tarim's most important tributary, supplying 70–80 percent of its water volume. Prior to the completion of reservoirs and irrigation works in the mid-20th century, the Tarim's waters eventually reached
Lop Nur Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts ...
(now a salt-encrusted lake bed). The river's waters now drain intermittently into Taitema Lake, which is located about southwest of Lop Nur.


Flora and fauna

Vegetation in the Tarim Basin is mainly located along the river and its branches. There, at the edge of the sands, shrubs like vegetation and stunted trees, especially wormwood, are found.
Tugay Tugay is a form of riparian forest or woodland associated with fluvial and floodplain areas in arid climates. These wetlands are subject to periodic inundation, and largely dependent on floods and groundwater rather than directly from rainfall ...
poplar forest grows in the Tarim River valley. Underbrush consists of
willows Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...
,
sea buckthorn ''Hippophae'' is the genus of sea buckthorns, deciduous shrubs in the family Elaeagnaceae. The name sea buckthorn may be hyphenated to avoid confusion with the unrelated true buckthorns (''Rhamnus'', family Rhamnaceae). It is also referred to as ...
, and dense growths of
Indian hemp Indian hemp may refer to any of various fiber bearing plan ...
and
Ural licorice Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan * Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econ ...
.The river is rich in fish, and animal life on the river and the surrounding desert is varied. At the time of
Sven Hedin Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO,Wennerholm, Eric (1978) ''Sven Hedin – En biografi'', Bonniers, Stockholm (19 February 1865 – 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator ...
's visit in 1899,
tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
s were still being hunted and trapped along the rivers of the region and near
Lop Nur Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts ...
. The valley and lakes of the Tarim are a stopover for many migratory birds. The Tarim River is frequently diverted, the river has a large sediment content, and the erosion and deposition change frequently. The Tarim River Basin is a corridor-like distribution of the largest primitive Populus euphratica forest in the world. There are many sandy plants such as Haloxylon, licorice, tamarisk and camel thorn in the forest. Hundreds of wild animals such as Tarim red deer, wild Bactrian camels, goose-throated antelopes, whooper swans and egrets are raised. At present, the Populus euphratica forest belt in the lower reaches is disappearing continuously due to the cut-off of the Tarim River and the decrease of water volume. The Tarim River all flows through the desert area, and the riverbed is generally silt and sandy loam, which is easily washed away. The upper and middle reaches of the river bed are generally more than 1 km wide, the widest is nearly 4 km, and the downstream river bed is generally 200-300 meters wide. The Tarim River is a primitive river with few dikes along the river, and it is allowed to overflow during flood periods. Wild plants grow densely in the floodplain area, mainly including Populus euphratica, red willows and various pastures. In the middle reaches of the river, the terrain is gentle and there are many depressions, the water flow is scattered, interspersed with each other, the water network is disordered, the meanders are developed, and the water and grass lakes are connected.


Human use

The water quality at the outflow mountain pass of the four major sources of the Tarim River is grade 1-2, which can meet the requirements of living, agricultural irrigation and fishery. Due to the influence of geographical environment factors and farmland drainage, the water quality of the main stream is poor in non-flood seasons, and the salinity of the river water has exceeded the standard of saline-alkali areas, and the water quality category is inferior to 5. Floods generally occur in summer, and the period from May to September in high mountains is the period of melting snow in glaciers and high mountains. The annual average natural runoff of the Tarim River Basin is 39.83 billion cubic meters, mainly recharged by glaciers and snowmelt, the unique groundwater resources are 3.07 billion cubic meters, and the total water resources in the basin is 42.9 billion cubic meters. Since the 1950s, the natural runoff of the four major source and outflow mountain passes has shown an increasing trend. However, due to the increase in the irrigation area and water consumption in front of the source area, the amount of water supplied to the main stream of the Tarim River has decreased from 6 billion cubic meters in the 1950s to The 4.4 billion cubic meters at the beginning of the 21st century have decreased by an average of 320 million cubic meters per decade. From the 1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, the amount of water entering the Tarim River has been less than the average for many years. Since the 1950s, although the natural inflow of water in each tributary has increased, due to the continuous increase in water consumption in the source area and the upper and middle reaches of the main stream, the water source of each tributary in the upper reaches of the Tarim River has been decreasing day by day, and the Kashgar River stopped inflow in the late 1950s; After the construction of the Bachu Xiaohaizi Reservoir in the 1960s, the discharge of the Yarkand River decreased sharply; except for the discharge of the Hetian River during the flood period, there was no water discharge in other periods. In the upper reaches of the lower reaches, the five farms of the Second Agricultural Division of the Production and Construction Corps rely on the sluices that block the river to bring all the water into the plains and reservoirs. As a result, the lower reaches of the lower reaches have become a desert. Taitma Lake is seasonally dry, and Lop Nur is completely dry. Since 2001, "ecological water supply" has been regularly implemented downstream to partially restore and maintain the downstream vegetation and ecological environment.


History

Some Chinese originally considered the Tarim to be the upper course of the
Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...
but, by the time of the
Former Han The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
Dynasty (125 BCE–23 CE), it was known that it drains into Lop Nur, a series of salt lakes.Hulsewé and Loewe (1979), p. 72.


Footnotes


See also

*
Geography of China China has great physical diversity. The eastern plains and southern coasts of the country consist of fertile lowlands and foothills. They are the location of most of China's agricultural output and human population. The southern areas of the ...
*
List of rivers of China This incomplete list of rivers that flow through China is organized according to the body of water into which each river empties, beginning with the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast, moving clockwise on a map and ending with the Arctic Ocean. Se ...
*
Ruo Shui Ejin River (), also Etsin Gol, Ruo Shui () or Ruo He in ancient times, is a major river system of northern China. It flows approximately from its headwaters on the northern Gansu side of the Qilian Mountains north-northeast into the endorheic ...
*
Shule River The Shule River ( zh, c=疏勒河, p=Shūlè Hé) is the second largest inland river in Gansu Province, China, and one of the three major inland river systems in the Hexi Corridor. Water system The Shule River system is composed of the main stre ...


References

* Hedin, Sven (1925): ''My Life as an Explorer''. First published Boni & Liveright, New York. Republished: National Geographic Adventure Classics. Washington, D.C. 2003. * Hill, John E. (2009) ''Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE''. John E. Hill. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. . *Hill, John E. 2004. ''The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe'' 魏略 ''by Yu Huan'' 魚豢'': A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE.'' Draft annotated English translation

*Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. ''China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty''. E. J. Brill, Leiden. *Stein, Aurel M. 1907. ''Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan'', 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford

*Stein, Aurel M. 1921. ''Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China'', 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980


Suggested reading

*Baumer, Christoph. 2000. ''Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin''. White Orchid Books. Bangkok. *Mallory, J.P. and Mair, Victor H. 2000. ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West''. Thames & Hudson. London.


External links


Information and a map of the Tarim's watershed

Silk Road Seattle - University of Washington
(The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full text historical texts)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060825143048/http://china.notspecial.org/gallery/album30 Photos of the Tarim River(from a Xinjiang blog) {{Authority control Rivers of Xinjiang Sites along the Silk Road